December 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s building designed by Tadao Ando. The Modern will mark the anniversary with a series of new acquisitions on view this fall, culminating in a celebration gala and dinner on December 6, 2012.

Director Marla Price comments, “These are exciting additions to the Modern’s permanent collection. We are acquiring work by important new artists in several cases and increasing our holdings of works by Vernon Fisher, Dan Flavin, Howard Hodgkin, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Nauman, and Nicholas Nixon.”

Rare Wall Drawing by Sol LeWitt

Among the acquisitions is a rare early wall drawing by Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), one of the pioneers of conceptual and minimal art. This is the third work by LeWitt to become part of the permanent collection. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, LeWitt began drawing lines directly on the walls of buildings, an action that radically transformed the role and definition of drawing in contemporary art.

These drawings now exist as a set of signed instructions written by the artist, which are then executed by museum or gallery technicians. Wall Drawing #50A, 1970, consists of hundreds of hand-drawn lines in colored pencil (red, yellow, and blue) stretching across a large wall, overlapping each other, and measuring approximately 11-by-16 feet. From a distance the accumulation of these lines creates a large, foggy plane of color, but a closer look reveals a delicate web of intricately rendered lines.

Another important addition to the Museum’s significant holdings in minimal art is a Dan Flavin (1933-1996) light sculpture, Untitled (for you Leo, in long respect and affection) 4, 1978, recently purchased at auction from the late Los Angeles collector Max Palevsky (1924-2010). Made of yellow and blue fluorescent light fixtures, the work is installed across the corner of a wall. This work was dedicated by Flavin to Leo Castelli, the famous contemporary art dealer from New York.

The work is a classic example of Flavin’s talent for blending different colored lights to create a continually active and vibrant space. The blue and yellow tubes of light create various shades of green that emanate from the corner of the room. The Museum’s permanent collection also includes Flavin’s Diagonal of May 25, 1963, a white fluorescent light acquired in 2002.

The Works of Mark Bradford

A monumental painting by artist Mark Bradford (b. 1961), Los Angeles, will also be unveiled as part of the celebration, the first in the Modern’s collection. Crafting semi-abstract paintings from fragments of the urban environment-billboard paper, posters, newsprint, and street debris-Bradford’s works are layered with multiple materials and meanings.

An African-American who grew up in south-central Los Angeles, the artist’s richly textured collages merge his fascination of the personal space of painting with the sprawling, continually changing street facades of the city and the particular political and racial tensions that still exist there.

The Modern’s newly acquired painting is titled Kingdom Day, 2010, and is one of Bradford’s most ambitious works to date, consisting of four 10-by-10-foot canvases. An homage to the Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles, which takes place every January on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the work specifically refers to the 1992 parade, the same year four policemen were tried and acquitted for beating Rodney King, inciting riots throughout Los Angeles.

The painting, which on first take appears almost abstract, presents an ambiguous and turbulent image. Various colored banners and words are obscured by a field of gestures that resemble sparks from an explosion. At the same time, the painting suggests a topographical read: a satellite view of the Southern California coast covered by violent atmospheric static.

Other new works to be debuted between September and December include a monumental charcoal drawing by artist Robyn O’Neil (b. 1977), Los Angeles, entitled These Final Hours Embrace At Last; This Is Our Ending, This Is Our Past, 2007. This nearly 14-foot-wide drawing depicts a vast ocean with a small figure that hangs over it by a thread. O’Neil’s spacious drawing will be contrasted with a small but potent recent painting entitled Ice, 2008-10, by Howard Hodgkin (b. 1932), which consists of an intensely blended bluish-white brush stroke advancing out of a reddish ground. O’Neil’s drawing is the first of her work to enter the permanent collection, and Hodgkin’s work is the third painting to be acquired for the Modern.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is located 3200 Darnell Street in Fort Worth, Texas 76107.

Museum Gallery Hours:Tue 10 am-7 pm (Sep-Nov, Feb-Apr), Tue-Sun 10 am-5 pm, Fri 10 am-8 pm
General Admission Prices (includes special exhibition) $4 for students with ID and seniors (60+)
$10 for adults (13+)
Free for children 12 and under
Free for Modern members
Free the first Sunday of every month and half-price every Wednesday.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary of the opening of the new building designed by Tadao Ando, the Modern Art of Museum of Fort Worth will present a significant, new installation by Jenny Holzer (b. 1950), her first to be acquired by the Museum.

This special commission will be unveiled at the gala on December 6,2012. The artist’s signature, kinesthetic light-emitting diode (LED) signs, will deliver Holzer’s controversial texts in “Ando blue,” including many of her famous truisms: MONEY CREATES TASTE; YOUR OLDEST FEARS ARE YOUR WORST ONES; SLIPPING INTO MADNESS IS GOOD FOR COMPARISON; MOTHERS SHOULDN’T MAKE TOO MANY SACRIFICES; LACK OF CHARISMA CAN BE FATAL.

Holzer’s glowing language will travel down long channels that extend from one end of a central, large clerestory gallery to a glass wall at the edge of the pond, creating rivers of text that give the illusion of penetrating the water. This major work, among other surprises, will give the collection a new look for the next decade.

New Exhibits Coming to The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

On view beginning September 9:

Kaws Companion (Passing Through) , 2010

On loan to the Modern as part of the 10th anniversary celebration, this colossal work-measuring 16 feet in height-depicts one of KAWS’s (b. 1974) iconic characters in three-dimensional form and will be installed at the entrance of the Museum. COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH) has traveled internationally over the past two years at such acclaimed venues as the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; the Standard Hotel, New York, New York; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Aldrich, Connecticut; and Harbour City, Hong Kong.

On view by October 21:

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #50A, 1970

Dan Flavin, Untitled (for you Leo, in long respect and affection) 4, 1978

Nicholas Nixon (b. 1947), The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts, 2011 is the newest addition in Nixon’s ongoing series of photographs, The Brown Sisters, initially acquired by the Modern in 2005.

Mark Bradford, Kingdom Day, 2010

Robyn O’Neil, These Final Hours Embrace At Last; This Is Our Ending, This Is Our Past, 2007

Howard Hodgkin, Ice, 2008-10

On view by November 16:

Vernon Fisher (b. 1943), The Coriolis Effect, 1987. A gift from the artist, this work was previously on view in the special exhibition, Vernon Fisher: K-Mart Conceptualism.

Bruce Nauman, Studio Mix, 2010

Unveiled during gala on December 6. On view to the public December 7.

Jenny Holzer, title to be announced, 2012

10th Anniversary Events

Tuesday Evening Lecture SeriesTuesdays, 7 pm

September 11-David Dawson, artist and longtime assistant and friend of Lucian Freud

September 18-Nicholas Nixon, artist

September 25-Rosson Crow, artist

October 2-KAWS, artist

October 9-Martin Gayford, art critic, writer, and subject of the painting Man with a Blue Scarf by Lucian Freud

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is located 3200 Darnell Street in Fort Worth, Texas 76107.

Museum Gallery Hours:Tue 10 am-7 pm (Sep-Nov, Feb-Apr), Tue-Sun 10 am-5 pm, Fri 10 am-8 pm
General Admission Prices (includes special exhibition) $4 for students with ID and seniors (60+)
$10 for adults (13+)
Free for children 12 and under
Free for Modern members
Free the first Sunday of every month and half-price every Wednesday.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, one of more than 1,500 museums across the United States,Â to offer FREE admission to military personnelÂ and their families this summer.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will participate in the Blue Star Museums program, in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense, and more than 1,500 museums across America, by offering free gallery admission to active-duty military personnel and their families. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families.

FREE Â Museum Admission forÂ Military PersonnelÂ and Their Families

The FREE admission program is available to all active-duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members). Active-duty military include Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active-duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members.

These visitors may simply show their military identification at the admission desk for complimentary tickets.The Blue Star Museums program runs from Memorial Day, May 28 through to Labor Day, September 3, 2012. The Modern will begin free admission on Friday, May 25 through Sunday, September 2. The Modern is closed on Mondays and holidays.

This year, more than 1,500 museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are taking part in the initiative. To find other museums that are participating, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. The site includes a list of participating museums and a map to help with visit planning.

Museum Gallery Hours
Tue-Sun 10 am-5 pm
Fri 10 am-8 pm
Closed Mondays

General Admission Prices
$4 for students with ID and seniors (60+)
$10 for adults (13+)
Free for children 12 and under
Free for Modern members
Free the first Sunday of every month and half-price every Wednesday.

The Museum is closed Monday and holidays including New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.

Addison Oktoberfest

September 19-22

An authentic recreation of the Munich Oktoberfest, this event features almost 30 hours of continuous family-oriented entertainment. Addison Oktoberfest coincides with the opening of the 16-day festival in Munich, Germany.

The original celebration began on October 10, 1810, to celebrate the royal wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxon-Hildburghausen. In 1880, the festival was scheduled to start in September so the festival could enjoy more pleasant weather. Serving special “Oktoberfest” Bier along with incredible German culinary fare, the festival also includes our Marktplatz, music, and kid-friendly options like the karneval, midway games and much more.

All event vendors will now accept Cash, Major Credit Cards and Tasty Bucks at any booth location. What does this mean for event patrons? Fewer and Shorter lines! (Guests are no longer required to purchase Tasty Bucks or Festival Coupons to buy food and drinks), valid Tasty Bucks from all years will still be accepted at all Addison events, including Taste Addison, Addison Kaboom Town!® and Addison Oktoberfest. Note that there will be no exchanges or refunds for Tasty Bucks from previous years.